Data Quest Article, 05/2009   Jai Ho India – The IT juggernaut can roll again   Chatting with IT Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and the NASSCOM annual event in February, it was heartening to note his confidence when he predicted a comfortable victory for the Congress in the ensuing elections. Come May 16th and Indian electorate certainly did not belie his confidence. The election result is one of the most satisfying outcomes for the corporate sector and indeed the entire professional community in India. This is not so much because one party won and the others seem to have lost, but the strength of the mandate given by a discerning electorate, which will ensure that a strong and stable Government is sworn in at the centre. We look forward to all the benefits of policy continuity and absence of political compromises that this entails. In the current global economic environment, it is important that India has a stable and progressive political environment that can focus on long-term policies for the sustainable development of the country, even as it takes decisive steps to immediately put the economy back on a high-growth trajectory. Some of the expectations from the new Government which would be uniform across industry sectors are significant investments in the improvement of physical, digital and social infrastructure across at least the top fifty cities and towns in the country, liberalisation of the education sector, particularly higher education from the yoke of excessive controls and regulation and opening up many sectors to foreign direct investment in the country. The Indian IT and Business Services sector is both an engine and a catalyst for the development of the Indian economy and there is confidence that the government will continue to partner with this sector for leveraging the benefits of IT for India’s domestic economy and through international trade. We also look forward to working with the government to promote inclusive growth and social benefits through the innovative use of IT. It is noteworthy that the biggest electoral process in the world – the globally-admired Indian elections – is through the use of Electronic Voting Machines, itself symbolic of the significance of IT for the country. Hopefully this is precursor to much more inclusive IT usage in the country. For the sixty lakh plus people who are directly or indirectly employed in the knowledge services industry, some immediate priorities that are expected from the government include: the extension of tax benefits to create a level playing field for young entrepreneurial companies competing with multinationals and large firms, strong focus on IT in e-Government, Healthcare, Agriculture and Education, and leveraging of its new strength and confidence with the international community to ensure that the principles of free trade and globalisation are followed and the ugly head of protectionism is not raised anywhere to thwart the aspirations of young IT professionals. The expectation on infrastructure and education transformation is not just a need of Indian IT but also an imperative for the long term success of corporate India. The completion and extension of the Golden Quadrilateral project on an all India basis and the availability of high speed broadband connectivity in the fifty cities identified by the NASSCOM-BCG study will enable industry dispersion. The Government should also take a leaf from China and make serious investments in the social infrastructure in smaller towns of India to encourage city folk as well as global professionals to relocate from their comfort zones and build significant businesses in these towns. On the Skills development side, the active participation of the private sector in Science Technology and Management Education could be ensured by opening up the sector to significant national and global investment. There will be a renewed expectation that the next five years will truly create the India of our dreams, with a strong and sustained eight percent plus growth rate, three hundred million or more Indians moving above the poverty line and strong growth in all the second tier cities of the country as their people join their urban counterparts in their success and their aspirations. A mandate like this should be seen as a responsibility by the new Government to rise above petty partisan politics and work towards a more noble cause of taking India to a true Comprehensive National Power (CNP) status. CNP would mean enabling every Indian citizen to have access to education, healthcare and basic financial services, securing the country’s borders against the multiple threats that lurk all around us and building on the status and reputation that we have already acquired as a nation in the international community. For al of us in IT and BPO, it is chance to dream new dreams – for our country our industry and our firms. May the next few years see all these dreams come true!       Back